Zambia votes in tense presidential and parliamentary polls

President Edgar Lungu and opposition’s Hakainde Hichilema face off for a third time in the knife-edge election.

Zambians are voting in nationwide elections after a tense campaign dominated by economic woes and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Approximately seven million citizens are registered to vote for a president, legislators and local government representatives in the polls that opened at 6am (04:00 GMT) on Thursday and close 12 hours later at more than 12,000 voting stations across the vast country. The winning candidate must receive more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff, which analysts deem unlikely.